The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity.

[sandyRoe]

While I'm not suggesting that the AB atheists are the worst, this line might explain why the atheist v theist debate seems so one sided.
Agree?

[naomi24]

Sandy, //But I'd sooner be a footsoldier following on the steep and thorny way to Heaven, than a general leading God knows who on the primrose path to perdition//

That’s fear, and coming from someone who claims that his God is a loving creature, fear is a conflicting emotion. Love does not create fear.

Looking at it realistically, you know there is no evidence for what you believe, and moreover you know without doubt that so much of it has been created and manipulated by other men, so why capitulate to it? I was raised a Christian; I didn’t know the history of my religion, and until I grew up, it never occurred to me to investigate it. Like most, I listened to sermons from the bible, carefully selected by the preachers who told me only what they wanted me to hear, and I simply believed what I was told - but now I know the truth, how can I believe what was clearly a lie? Impossible. I would be deceiving myself. I simply do not understand anyone, who, like you, is intelligent and far from ignorant of the origins of his religion, and yet continues to deny the reality of it.

I believe that people possess an innate sense of spirituality, and I can understand the concept of a higher power - but this God? No. His history, if anyone cares to examine it, provides plentiful evidence that it can’t be him. If a creator exists, it has to be something far greater than that. You’re talking to the wrong bloke.

And you ask why non-believers are more willing to discuss religion than the religious? Isn’t it obvious?

[goodlife]

You know we were all born with a spiritual need but not with faith.
In fact, faith is not a possession of all people. (2 Thessalonians 3:2) However, true Christians must have faith in order to inherit God’s promises.

[naomi24]

Goodlife, my post above applies to all the Abrahamic religions - including yours.

[mibn2cweus]

The need for faith assures us only that any belief which relies upon and follows from faith is unjustified and based solely on a departure from reason, the means of ascertaining the validity of ones beliefs and feelings. Feelings are not derived from some unknown mystical external source but from ones own mind's assessment based not on external knowledge but on what one believes.

Faith is not a shortcut to knowledge but a short circuit destroying the minds capacity to ascertain truth.

http://atheism.about....quotes/bl_q_ARand.htm

[jomifl]

Sith, one good answer and the hordes of atheists would vanish as the summer snow....

[vetuste_ennemi]

Never been in love then, Mibs?

[mibn2cweus]

♪♪♫♪ What's love got to do with it? ♫♪♫

Unless you are suggesting that love must be unreasonable? True love is the highest, noblest, grandest and ultimate expression of reason.

♫♪ Without love, where would you be now? ♪♫♪♪♫

[naomi24]

//Unless you are suggesting that love must be unreasonable?//

Rarely unreasonable - but often irrational.

[mibn2cweus]

//Rarely unreasonable - but often irrational.//

Love . . . or me? ;o)

[naomi24]

Haaaaaa! Both. :o)

[mibn2cweus]

Check your premis . . .

erm, nevermind. :o/

[naomi24]

Mibs, hey ho. :o)

Sandy, any chance of a response to mine of 8.39 this morning?

[sandyRoe]

Naomi, your post @ 8:39 has me almost lost for words. I have enjoyed playing Gods advocate and standing like a puny David before a phalanx of Godless Goliaths. But your arguments are so compelling that I feel I can do no other than confess the truth. I never was a believer. I was brought up in a Catholic milieu but what I picked up there clearly didn't equip me to give the defence of religion that I would have liked.

[cupid04]

I agree with sith123

[jomifl]

And I repeat my reply to Sith..

[cupid04]

I dont have to defend myself to anyone on here. What I meant to say is that
those of us with a faith tend to be outnumbered on this particular forum.
I believe in God and I have been a christian for nearly 25 years. No one made
me become a christian. It was my choice. I haven't got all the answers as to
why bad things happen. I am not immune from the heartache that life can
throw at us. I see beauty in creation and I draw comfort from the fact that he
knows all about me and still loves me. I'm still on a journey with lots to learn
and dont profess to have all the answers. I wish i could make you understand but I do not have the eloquence that you and your fellow abers have.

[mibn2cweus]

//Mibs, hey ho. :o)//

Who you callin' a ho? Why I feel lucky when I can give it away!

[sith123]

//Sith, one good answer and the hordes of atheists would vanish as the summer snow....//

jom, i assure you, even if i gave you one good answer, knowing how you and a few other people are it would not make the difference. it would just pass straight through your skull as you do not want to believe it. Also i know you are being sarcastic. its not funny.

What i do not understand is that atheists critisize religion all they want and get involved when it is in fact not even a religion. Im not saying that, many others have. So if it is not a religion than why get involved in a religious thread passing of atheism like it is a religion you have to convert to? However if one of use does the same trying to convert or sometimes not even that, just explaining our views well all the atheists jump in like a swarm. I mean, dont you have anything better to do?